Methods of preparing a graphic multicolor reproduction



United States Patent 3,345,939 METHODS OF PREPARING A GRAPHIC MULTICGLOR REPRQDUCTION Anton Wilhelm Jemseby, Allfarvagen 29, Taby, Sweden No Drawing. Filed May 6, 1965, Ser. No. 453,830 Claims priority, application Sweden, May 12, 1964, 5,773/64; Feb. 20, 1965, 2,229/65 4 Claims. (Cl. 101211) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE A method of preparing a graphic multicolor reproduction of a painting having an irregular surface is described wherein a silk screen is made with a pattern of opening corresponding to elevated portions on the painting surface and the use of this silk screen with transparent, uncolored ink to print on top of a multicolor print of the painting to imitate the original surface.

This invention relates to a method of preparing a graphic multicolor reproduction.

By present methods it is possible to prepare from artists paintings graphic reproductions which in point of color hues and line elements are very close to the original but such reproductions nevertheless convey a fiat and dead impression since they cannot reproduce the liveliness of the color surfaces that the artist has been able to realize in the original by varying the thickness of the color layer.

This invention has for its object to overcome this deficiency to the largest possible extent. The invention thus relates to a method of preparing a graphic multicolor reproduction of a painting having an irregular surface, and the method is characterized by making on a silk screen a pattern of openings corresponding to the elevated portions in the surface of the painting, and performing by means of this silk screen with printing ink a print in registration with a multicolor print of the painting on a support to imitate the original surface of the painting.

The silk screen may be prepared by placing on the surface of the painting a thin plastic film sheet or a preferably moistened paper sheet and pressing said sheet against the irregular surface of the painting with the aid of an inked roller or doctor so that the portions of the sheet superposed on the elevated portions of the surface of the painting will be inked, and then reproducing in known manner the inked portions of the sheet on a silk screen material for preparing the silk screen having the pattern of openings.

Another suitable method of preparing the silk screen resides in placing on the surface of the painting a thin plastic film sheet which has a thin loosely adhering color layer on the side facing away from the surface of the painting, and pressing said sheet against the irregular surface of the painting by means of a roller or doctor so that the color layer is removed from the portions of the sheet superposed on the elevated portions of the surface of the painting, and then reproducing the portions of the sheet that have been freed from the color layer on a silk screen material for preparing the silk screen having the pattern of openings.

When the painting is so sensitive or valuable that it should not be exposed to the stresses that the two abovementioned methods for preparing the silk screen would entail it is also possible to proceed by illuminating the irregular surface of the painting by light very obliquely incident or striking from one direction and photographing said surface to obtain a negative, making possibly one or more further negatives in the same way by illumination of the surface of the painting from another direction for each negative, and printing the negative or negatives on a silk screen material in known manner to prepare the silk screen having the pattern of openings.

The print by means of the silk screen is performed With a transparent ink as a superposed print on the multicolor print on said support. The ink utilized for said superposed print should preferably be altogether uncolored and clearly transparent and should at the application be so viscous or paste-like as not to flow appreciably on the reproduction. Should the original painting have large differences of level it is of course possible to carry out several superposed prints in the manner indicated to sucessively build up corresponding differences of level in the reproduction by means of the transparent ink, in which case the successive prints can be performed by means of one and the same silk screen or different silk screens, one or more of which have but some of the openings in one or more of the other silk screens so that the elevated portions realized by means of the transparent ink in the finished reproduction have different heights in accordance with the conditions prevailing in the original painting.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Method of preparing a graphic multicolor reproduction of a painting having an irregular surface, comprising the steps of making a multicolor print of the painting on a support, making on a silk screen a pattern of openings corresponding to the elevated portions in the surface of the painting, and performing by means of this silk screen with transparent uncolored printing ink a print on top of and in registration with the multicolor print on the support to imitate the original surface of the painting.

2. Method as claimed in claim 1, comprising placing on the surface of the painting a flexible sheet, pressing said sheet against the irregular surface of the painting with the aid of an inked roller so that the portions of the sheet that are superposed on the elevated portions of the surface of the painting will be inked, and reproducing the inked portions of the sheet on a silk screen material for preparing the silk screen having the pattern of openings.

3. Method as claimed in claim 1, comprising placing on the surface of the painting a thin plastic film sheet which has a thin loosely adhering color layer on the side facing away from the surface of the painting, pressing said sheet against the irregular surface of the painting by means of a doctor so that the color layer is removed from the portions of the sheet that are superposed on the elevated portions of the surface of the painting, and reproducing the portions of the sheet that have been freed from the color layer on a silk screen material for preparing the silk screen having the pattern of openings.

4. Method as claimed in claim 1, comprising illuminating the irregular surface of the painting by light very obliquely incident from one direction and photographing said surface to obtain a negative, and printing the negative on a silk screen material to prepare the silk screen having the pattern of openings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 603,533 5/1898 Mora l01211 819,841 5/1906 Bell 117-38 1,261,630 4/1918 Sauber. 1,583,861 5/1926 Smith l0132 X 1,799,773 4/1931 Zehnpfund 10l32 X QAVIQ Primary Examiner. 

1. METHOD OF PREPARING A GRAPHIC MULTICOLOR REPRODUCTION OF A PAINTING HAVING AN IRREGULAR SURFACE, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF MAKING A MULTICOLOR PRINT OF THE PAINTING ON A SUPPORT, MAKING ON A SILK SCREEN A PATTERN OF OPENINGS CORRESPONDING TO THE ELEVATED PORTIONS IN THE SURFACE OF THE PAINTING, AND PERFORMING BY MEANS OF THIS SILK SCREEN WITH TRANSPARENT UNCOLORED PRINTING INK A PRINT ON TOP OF AND IN REGISTRATION WITH THE MULTICOLOR PRINT ON THE SUPPORT TO IMITATE THE ORIGINAL SURFACE OF THE PAINTING. 